Kirkland, Wash. – John Marshall has been an NFL assistant coach for 27 years. He has been a defensive coordinator for nine of those seasons.
He has concocted, or had a hand in, over 400 plans to thwart opposing quarterbacks.
But the 61-year-old Seattle Seahawks defensive mastermind has never had to plan for the almost complete unknown. Until now.
Marshall and the Seahawks get Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler tonight, in the rookie’s first start since coach Mike Shan- ahan chose to replace struggling Jake Plummer. It’s the polar opposite of Seattle’s preparation last week for Brett Favre, the Green Bay Packers icon on whom Marshall had 15 seasons’ worth of tendencies to study.
“Shucks, I don’t really think so,” Marshall said when asked if he has ever been asked to ruin a passer’s pro debut with a scheme based only on film from preseason games.
Speedy linebacker Julian Peterson, the Seahawks’ sack leader with a career-high eight, said he has faced two rookie quarterbacks in their first starts when he was with the San Francisco 49ers: Eli Manning and Chris Weinke.
“But Weinke doesn’t count,” Peterson, who turned 28 this preseason, said of the Carolina Panther. “He was 28. He was older than I am.”
Cutler is just 23. But he also was the 11th choice in last April’s draft from Vanderbilt whom Denver traded up to get, its highest-selected quarterback ever – yes, John Elway was taken by someone else, the Baltimore Colts, then traded to Denver. Cutler was 40-for-62 (65 percent) with four touchdowns and one interception in the preseason. His 561 yards passing led all rookies.
That alone impressed Marshall. Then again, that’s all Marshall had to be impressed about.
“He’s really good. That’s why they drafted him high,” Marshall said. “He’s got good mobility – just as good as Jake. He throws the ball well on the run, to his right and his left. He’s got a real strong arm. Real strong.”
The assumed thrust of this latest Marshall plan is for the Seahawks to blitz Cutler with everyone except the team’s equipment men. The players hope that’s the assignment.
“You’ve got to welcome him to the NFL. That’s what everyone does to rookies in the NFL,” former Broncos cornerback Kelly Herndon said when asked if he expected to blitz more.
Middle linebacker and defensive signal caller Lofa Tatupu has faced one debuting rookie quarterback, the 49ers’ Alex Smith last season, when Tatupu became a rookie Pro Bowler.
“I’d like to attack him,” Tatupu said of Cutler. “But it’s crazy. You go attack a guy like (Arizona rookie and former USC teammate Matt) Leinart, and he handles it really well. (Cutler) may do well against the blitz, who knows?”
Cutler knows the Seahawks lead the NFC and are third in the NFL with 37 sacks. But they have blitzed more than usual in just one game, a 16-0 shutout of Oakland. They got nine sacks that night against a sorry offensive line.
Cutler is expecting that same treatment. He said he’s already noticed the speed of Seattle’s linebackers, especially the dynamic-again Peterson.
“They really fly around. They like to blitz a little bit,” Cutler said.
The Seahawks say they don’t expect Shanahan to reduce the playbook for Cutler. And Shanahan said this week, “For us to make that decision that we have made, we feel very comfortable that he’s got complete knowledge of the offense.”
